Trouble, Pepper, Sammie, Cheyanne and Annie have it made.
They are well taken care of they are fed, given water and lavished with attention. There is just one catch these cats would prefer to be in a forever home.
They are "flood cats," pets that were among those left at the Souris Valley Animal Shelter due to the flooding of the Souris River this summer.
In all, 540 pets were housed either at the shelter or at an emergency shelter located at the NDSU North Central Research Extension Center. By the end of August, there were only 19 of these animals left. All the rest were collected by their families as they returned to their homes.
Of these 19 animals, 13 of them were adopted out. Six cats and one rabbit remain.
"These are the last of the pets that we brought back" from the emergency shelter, explained Susan Wagers, director of the Souris Valley Animal Shelter, as she stood in a room that housed the flood cats. "For whatever reason, some of (the families affected by the flood) weren't able to pick them up."
In addition to the "flood animals," the shelter currently has 20 cats and 25 dogs available for adoption. While the cats recline quietly in their cages, sometimes pausing reflectively as they lick their paws, the dogs are more rambunctious and eager when a prospective adoptive family tours the facilities. There are some, like a large Great Dane, that, like their barks, bounce off the walls. Others, like Amethyst, a Yorkie mix, look at you with puppy dog eyes.
And then, there are some cages that are empty. These were the temporary homes for animals that are now with forever families.
These vacancies, a few months ago, were not common.
While the animal shelter was not physically affected by the flood the shelter is located at 1935-20th Avenue Southeast it became inundated with requests to house animals as homeowners moved out of their homes with the impending Souris River flooding.
"We're full on a daily basis, anyway," Wagers said, so the shelter found itself hard pressed to deal with the serge in housing displaced pets.
According to Vanessa Carns, the shelter's kennel supervisor, there are only 29 dog kennels and 36 cat kennels, the latter not including a cat room "kitty city" which can hold a maximum of 18 cats. Sometimes, depending on the number of animals at the shelter and their size, there are more than one of an animal found in a kennel. For example, a kennel could hold six kittens, Carns said.
In a story that ran in The Minot Daily News on June 1, 2011, the shelter reached capacity after it accepted 68 dogs and cats and one ferret from families who were forced to evacuate.
Normally, in an event of an emergency like this, the North Dakota State Fairgrounds are used as an emergency shelter, but that, too, was flooded. The timely intervention of the North Dakota Agriculture Department and the state veterinarian's office helped the shelter find other accommodations; in this case, the seed warehouses at the NDSU North Central Research Extension Center were used.
For 2-1/2 months, until the end of August 2011, staff with the Souris Valley Animal Shelter were split between their regular location and the extension center, located south of Minot.
"That forced us to close our doors for business," Wagers said, as there wasn't enough staff to be evenly divided between the two locales. The flood, she added, also caused the cancellation of four fundraisers, which could have produced a projected $15,000 for the shelter. The shelter is funded primarily from adoption fees $35 for cats, $45 for dogs, and in the case of the flood-affected rabbit, $15 donations, and from other services available at the shelter.
For their combined efforts in providing emergency accommodations for these animals, the Souris Valley Animal Shelter and the NDSU North Central Research Extension Center were honored by the North Dakota Department of Agriculture on Thursday. Jesse Vollmer, assistant state veterinarian, and Greg Wilz, deputy director of the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services, presented certificates of commendation to those involved. In addition to Wagers, who was honored as well as the shelter's staff, those receiving certificates included Jay Fisher, director of the North Dakota State University North Central Research Extension Center, where the emergency shelter was located; Chad Anderson, a seed production specialist with NCREC; John Dhuyvetter, an extension livestock systems specialist with NCREC; and Lee Novak, an ag research technician.
In a press release issued Wednesday by the Department of Agriculture, state ag commissioner Doug Goehring commented on how impressed he was when he toured the emergency shelter in July.
"The cages were neat and clean; the animals were fed, watered and exercised daily, and there was no interruption of the important agriculture research work at the extension center," Goehring said.
"This is on behalf of a lot of folks. I just receive this as part of our staff," Fisher said following his receipt of the award. "We were glad to help out where we could."
"I am so proud of the staff at the animal shelter for the work that they did," Wagers said. "In the very beginning, they were working, literally, 14 to 16 hours a day, seven days a week. We were split between two buildings. It was just nothing we have ever experienced before. I can't thank the extension folks enough."
Wagers noted that the staff at the extension center "got that ball rolling for us," and helped get the seed warehouse prepped for the animals.
"If it weren't for them getting it all set up and going, I think we'd be lost a few days into it," she said. "They're definitely my new family."
